Dartress Bridge, Sconce Road, Articlave, Coleraine, Co Londonderry, BT51

Dartress Bridge is an elegant, segmental skew-arched masonry road bridge, likely dating from the early 19th century. The bridge carries a minor road over the Articlave River, situated just south of Articlave village. It is constructed with low abutments of squared random rubble, carefully laid and embellished with rusticated and margined sandstone quoins. Shallow, tapered buttresses flank each side of the arch, featuring similarly detailed quoins. The arch itself is of a segmental profile and is also defined by rusticated and margined sandstone quoins. The soffit of the arch has been coated in sprayed concrete, obscuring its original material. The spandrels and parapets are built from roughly squared basalt blocks laid in courses and topped with dressed sandstone blocks. The riverbank at the northeastern end of the bridge has been built up using rubble masonry. Both faces of the bridge have been heavily repointed in recent times, and the riverbed has been concreted to prevent erosion. The bridge is situated on the southern approach to Articlave, within a rural landscape of pastureland.

An uncaptioned bridge appears at this location on an Ordnance Survey map from 1830. Although the 1835 Ordnance Survey Memoir for Dunboe Parish does not mention this bridge specifically, it notes that a bridge further along the townland boundary between Dartress and Ballywildrick Lower was "lately built at the expense of the county," suggesting Dartress Bridge may have been constructed around the same time. The bridge is labelled as Dartress Bridge on the 1850 Ordnance Survey map and subsequent editions. The bridge is of industrial archaeological interest and exhibits notable style, proportion, ornamentation, plan form, structural system, and setting. Alterations detract from the original appearance, but its age, authenticity, and historical importance are significant, along with its local interest.